"... of small and simple things..."

When we came to this home in the bush, there was a plastic green salad bowl with a clear plastic lid. We began a small experiment that has truly blessed our lives; in fact it has become quite a piece of Abomosu Branch fabric. Over the months it has held fresh cabbage salads, kincei, rice balls, groundnut soup, Snail soup, Banana bread, cookies, fruit salads, light soup, popcorn, fresh baked Tea Bread, red red, egg sandwich, watchi, and the list can go on. We began this adventure with a simple act of kindness and sharing a small small of a meal we had prepared. We took it to the Abu family. When it was returned it had another small portion of the dish that they had prepared for their meal that day. We then visited another family that had very little to eat and the green bowl brought a small small portion of another meal we had prepared. When the bowl was returned, it was filled with a fresh cut pineapple. And so the bowl has gone from home to home and always returned with a humble offering from the family that received our sharing. Each week there is a comment about the Dalton’s green bowl in the Abomosu branch. It is a kind of treat for the family that had the green bowl at their home. Now, Sister Dalton and I never thought of this as starting a tradition but rather as a simple kind gesture to so many that have touched our lives. But we have become greatly touched by the saints who have returned the green bowl always filled with an offering of love. Sometimes it filled with whatever they have abundance in their homes, other times we have received a single cocoa yam, which we know was meant for their meal. I marvel at the giving attitude these humble saints have shown us nevertheless we have prayed for their tables to be filled with abundance for the giving. There is a special lesson here for all of us to learn, when kindness is extended, we should return the kindness and we shall never want. So it is with the Saviors love, though we will never be able to refill what the Savior has done for us, we can show our thankfulness as we serve others of Fathers children. What a tender mercy from above we have experienced while serving our mission. 

 

...endure them, for, lo, I am with thee...

Manuel Ohene is 14. He was baptized just over a year ago and has been very faithful in this attendance and duties as a teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood. He has perfect attendance in seminary and has great friends that support him. I marveled as he walks to and from school each day. He has bent legs and does all movements with, I’m sure, great pain. He has adapted to his circumstances and does well in teachings us to endure to the end for the Lord. He proselytes with the missionaries and has taught with them to two of his friends. He prays they will be baptized soon. His mother and father are farmers who work each day on their small small farm to keep him and his younger brother in school. I have enjoyed being friends with this fine young boy and have followed his gospel development with joy. He attends the temple when we have a temple trip and rallies many of the other youth to come along. I have always wondered why he has such bent and deformed legs? It is a real struggle and with great effort that he walks at all but he never complains. So today, I stopped and talked with him of his condition. At 10 years old he was alongside his mother weeding at the farm. It is custom that around 11AM most farm workers take a 30 to 40 minute nap. Remember that they are usually up at 4:30AM and on their way to the farm by 5:30AM which is still dark. They have done this for years to beat the heat of the day which is usually in the afternoons. This day Emanuel was needed at the farm so had not gone to school. His father was cutting some larger trees down in the process of enlarging their farm. All work is done with a simple machete including chopping trees. Emanuel had lain down for a much need rest; his father was across the way resting too. Soon father was up and at the chores at hand along with mother as the their son continued to nap in the tall grass. Father finally had chipped his way through the tree he needed to fall and it crashed down through the bush and thick brush. It was then that mother began screaming with the horror of the sight that the tree had fallen right where Emanuel had been resting. Together they rushed to find Emanuel pinned under the heavy tree unconscious and twisted among the limbs of the tree. Minutes seemed to become hours before Emanuel was chopped out from under the tree that held him captive. Scooped up and carried to the humble medical center by a grief stricken father and mother; he was alive but twisted beyond belief. A taxi was hailed and they rode the 3 hours to the government hospital in Kibi. Medical staff tried to put broken hips and legs back in order but knew they could not make him walk again. Time lapsed and Emanuel struggled to be able to do the simplest things but most of all he wanted to walk as other kids did. He was ridiculed, thrown sticks at, mocked at the shape of his legs and body, and education had stopped for this young boy because he was unable to get to school on his own as the government law states one must. He was determined though and eventually crawled his first day to school two years after the accident. He now is up at 4:30AM and fetches water for the family before his 60 minute walk to his junior high school. Most kids do this walk in 15 minutes and usually meet up with Emanuel just before they all arrive at school together. O what faith and determination Emanuel has shown to us all. In the Lord, all things are possible. Yes, even the hard things.

 

 

...with gentleness and love...

There is real challenge with cell phones here in the bush of Ghana. The cell phone is the only communication for most with the outside world. Though these people are poor in the world’s standard, they have cell phones and are on them several times each day. When I first came to this community I could not believe the lack of cell phone etiquette these people had. Over the months we have experienced leaders who during church have stepped off the stand to answer a ringing phone. Yes, I quite remember a Branch President who during the Sacrament had his phone go off and he answered it with his normal voice “Hello” and then walked off the stand out of the meeting talking on the phone. No one was disturbed or even felt as if something was wrong with this picture. At the end of the Sacrament portion, the members were going to wait until the branch president came back in if I had not told a councilor to carry on with the program as outlined on the agenda; just that the president had taken the program with him and no one knew of the program- we waited for about 2 minutes and then he walked in and we proceeded with the service. I have been on a crusade since that day to teach etiquette to our leaders and members. It has an uphill battle but we have seen improvement, small small. Yesterday, while visiting the Asuom Branch, I witnessed the blessing / curse of my efforts over the months. During a testimony from one of the members, a cell phone began to ring. A sister had forgotten to mute the ringer and she was digging in her dress and wrap to find the phone. The branch clerk stood up and walked back to the women who just found the phone as he arrived by her side, (it was playing Yankee Doodle as the ringer) and took her phone from her, shut off the phone, and put it in his pocket and walked back to his seat on the front row. No one said a thing or made an issue over the actions of the women or clerk. I thought “is this what I have done to preserve the reverence of our meetings?” Towards the end of the meeting, there was another cell phone that began to ring, this time the young man caught it before the whole tune of Beat It by Michael Jackson had completed. He turned it off and yes, the clerk stood and walked back to the young man, reached and took his cell phone without any further words or gesture. The clerk put it in his pocket and walked back to his seat. I quizzed the clerk after the service and he told me he believed they had a serious problem with these cell phones during their meetings so as a Branch Presidency, they decided to collect all phones when they would go off and then after an interview with the President, after the meeting block was completed, he would return their phones. They had announced the new policy for 3 previous weeks so all would realize the importance of turning their phones off or on vibrate during meetings. It was working with some but there were others who have not been back to church since their phone was confiscated during a meeting. All the way home I pondered the policy and intent of the District Presidency and the implementation by this Branch President, and decided that some issues we must be exacting while others we may want to continue to instruct and teach rather than force or embarrass our saints. O what webs we weave when we use our influence and position to be heavy handed, rather than to use gentle persuasion and love.

 

...she is a tree of life....

Have you ever thought what it would be like to live to be 116 years old? I sat with a “wonder woman” who was born in 1896 here in Ghana. Her life has been spent right here in Abomosu. She outlived 3 husbands and 34 offspring. She stills will make her way to the family farm occasionally but leaves the work to the grandsons. But today she sat a spell and I tried my best to understand her Twi language. Though her legs are weak and her bones are brittle, we have seen her several times in the market and know she still ventures out most days. We had heard of her a number of months ago when Sister Dalton was helping Brother Agyei with his family history. He mentioned that his great-grandmother was still living in the town. He verified the correct date of her birth as it was passed down from generation to generation, he being the oldest great- grandson at 63. I have wanted to visit this woman, but just today, though I had no time, sat with Stella and listen intently to her speak of the days adventure. I asked for a keepsake picture and she was gracious enough to grant me the privilege. What an experience for me to set with a woman of such strength and persistence. I’m glad the occasion came into my life. I was greatly blessed for the few minutes we shared spirit to spirit.